Contents
Welcome to Carcassonne!
The Basics
Hey there! If you’re new to Carcassonne, let me break it down for you. This is a game where you and your friends work together to build a beautiful medieval landscape. The game board starts out empty, but as you take turns placing tiles, the landscape comes to life right in front of you. How cool is that?
Now, let’s talk about the tiles. Each tile has different elements on it – cities, roads, fields, and monasteries. When you place a tile, you have to match up its edges to the tiles around it. Connect roads to roads, cities to cities, and so on. It’s like putting together a puzzle!
As you build the landscape, you’ll also have the chance to claim different features for yourself. You can claim cities, roads, or fields by placing your little wooden followers on them. These followers are called meeples, and they’re your way of showing that you own a certain feature. Go ahead and put them to work!
Once you’ve claimed a feature, you’ll start earning points for it. The bigger the city or road, or the more fields you have, the more points you’ll rack up. But be careful – if someone else puts their meeple on your feature, they’re sharing in the points too. It’s all about strategy and knowing when to claim a feature for yourself.
Managing Your Meeples
Ah, the meeples – the heart and soul of Carcassonne. You start the game with a limited number of them, so use them wisely! You can only place a meeple on a feature that isn’t already claimed by another player. Once you do, it stays there until the feature is completed.
When a feature is finished, you’ll get your meeple back, along with any points you earned. But don’t worry, you’ll always have meeples available to place on new features. It’s all about making strategic decisions about where and when to place your meeples for maximum points.
The Final Countdown
So, how do you know when the game is over? Well, there are two ways. First, when you run out of tiles to place, that’s a sign that the game is coming to an end. Second, if all the features on the board are completed, then it’s time to add up the final scores.
At the end of the game, each player adds up their points from the features they claimed. The player with the most points wins the game and gets to bask in their glorious victory.
Wrap Up
Alright, now you’re ready to embark on your Carcassonne adventure! Just remember to connect tiles, claim features with meeples, and use strategy to earn those points. May the best medieval city-builder win!
When I play the game, I start by placing the start tile right in the middle of the table. I also put the scoreboard on the edge of the table.
All the other tiles are shuffled and placed in a face-down stack.
Before the game starts, each player takes their 8 followers of their chosen color and puts one of them on the scoreboard at number zero.
Now we have to decide who gets to go first.
How to Play
When it’s my turn, there are several actions I can take, and I have to do them in a specific order:
- I need to draw a new land tile and place it on the table.
- Next, I can choose to put one of my followers from my supply onto the tile that I just placed.
- If by placing the tile I complete one or more roads, cities, or monasteries, I will immediately get some points.
- Finally, I need to return any possible thieves, knights, or monks back to my supply.
Your turn is done, and now it’s time for the next player to take their turn. They will start their turn in a clockwise direction.
Learn from this Tutorial Video
How to Place Land Tiles
When I play this game, I get excited to draw a new land tile. It’s like a little surprise waiting for me. But, of course, there are some important rules to follow when placing that tile on the table.
First, I have to make sure that at least one edge of the new tile is touching a previously placed tile. I can’t just connect it by a corner – it needs to have a real connection.
Next, I need to match up the road, city, and field segments on the new tile with the ones on the adjoining tiles. It all needs to fit together nicely, like a puzzle. The only exception to this is the cloisters, which are always complete within a single tile.
Now, sometimes there are situations where the tile I draw just can’t be placed. It happens rarely, but when it does, I simply return the tile to the box and draw another one. No use getting stuck when there are more tiles to discover!
Placing My Trusty Followers
When I place a tile in the game, I have the option to deploy one of my followers. Here’s how it works:
- I can only place one follower per turn.
- I have to use a follower from my supply.
- I can only put the follower on the tile I just placed.
- I get to choose where to put the follower on the tile: a thief on a road, a knight in a city, a monk in a cloister, or a farmer in a field.
- I can’t place my follower on a road, in a city, or in a field that is already occupied by another follower.
Once I’ve placed all my followers, I keep playing tiles on each turn.
I can’t take back a follower from a tile once I’ve placed it, but I do get them back when roads, cities, or monasteries are completed.
So, once it’s my turn to play, I’ll place my tile on the board. Then, it’s time for the next player to take a turn, and this pattern continues in a clockwise direction. But here’s something interesting: if my tile placement creates a completed line, it will be scored right away before the next player’s turn. So, timing can really make a difference in this game! Let’s talk a bit more about how the scoring works.
When I score points, I get to move my scoring marker forward on the scoring track. The number of spaces I move is equal to the points I earned. It’s exciting to see my marker advance!
However, if my scoring marker goes beyond 50, I have to put it on its side. This is to show that I have more than 50 points. It’s like a special badge of honor!
What happens when I finish a road?
Imagine a road. It’s not just any road, but a road that is considered complete. How is it complete, you may ask? Well, it’s quite simple. Both ends of the road need to be connected to something else, like a crossroad, a city section, or even a monastery. And there’s another way a road can be complete – if it loops onto itself. So you see, there are a few different ways for a road to reach completion.
Now, let’s talk about the points. Points are a big deal in this game, and when it comes to completed roads, they play a major role. If you have one of your thiefs on a completed road, you earn 1 point for each tile that was used to complete that road. So the longer the road, the more points you get. It’s like a little reward for your hard work and strategic thinking.
Speaking of completion, let’s move on to cities.
Have you ever wondered what it takes for a city to be considered complete? Well, let me break it down for you. A city is only complete when it is completely surrounded by walls, with no gaps left behind. Picture a jigsaw puzzle coming together perfectly without any missing pieces.
Now, cities aren’t just made up of one big chunk. They can be divided into several segments, each with its own charm and character. And here’s the interesting part – if you happen to own a knight within a completed city, you get to score 2 points for each tile used in that city. It’s like a little reward for bringing your knight along for the ride.
But wait, there’s more! As you explore these completed cities, you might stumble upon a shield or banner. These special items add an extra touch of prestige to the city and give you 2 bonus points. So, not only are you racking up points for your tiles, but you’re also earning some bonus points for your stylish accessories.
Oh, before I forget to mention, if there’s ever a completed road or city with more than one follower, the player with the most thieves or knights swoops in and collects all the points. It’s like a friendly tug-of-war, but the winner takes it all. And in case of a tie, well, both players get to share the points because, hey, sometimes it’s just too close to call.
Now, let’s shift our attention to a completed monastery.
When all the tiles around a monastery or cloister are filled, it is considered complete. If I own a monk in a completed monastery or cloister, I will earn 9 points.
After I finish a road, city, or monastery, the followers I used for scoring are returned to my supply. I can then reuse them on other tiles later.
Farms
Connected fields are called farms, but they don’t score points during the game. Farms are surrounded by roads, cities, and the edge of the area where the tiles have been placed.
I have the option to put my followers on farms and turn them into farmers. These farmers will only score points during the final scoring phase.
Unlike other followers, farmers stay on the fields for the entire game and cannot be returned to my supply.
Final scoring
When I place the last tile, the game will end after my turn. This is when the final scoring takes place.
Incomplete cities, roads, or monasteries: The Unfinished and The Forgotten
When it’s time to tally up the final scores, there’s still hope for the incomplete cities, roads, and monasteries that were left behind.
If I have a daring thief wandering a road or a courageous knight safeguarding a city, I’ll get a point for each segment of those incomplete structures. And if I happen to have banners or shields adorning the city, I snag an additional point for each one.
As for those forgotten souls tending to an unfinished monastery, their dedication pays off. With each monastery tile they laid a hand on, I earn a solid point.
Farmers: Silent Heroes of the Fields
Now, let’s talk about the unsung heroes of the fields – the farmers. They score points using this nifty system:
- In this game, only the cities that have been completed count towards your score.
- Your farmers must be in a field that touches at least one completed city. The distance between your farmer and the city doesn’t matter.
- If a field touches multiple cities, the player with the most farmers in that field earns 3 points for each city.
- It’s possible for multiple farms to supply a single city. In that case, the player with the most farmers in the farms supplying the city earns the points. If two or more players tie for most farmers, each of them scores.
The End of the Game
Once all the fields have been scored, it’s time for the final scoring and the end of the game.
The player with the highest point total is declared the winner!